This disclosure relates to a surgical drape and more specifically to a surgical drape used in conjunction with an implantable medical device.
The medical device industry produces a wide variety of electronic and mechanical devices for treating patient medical conditions. Depending upon the medical condition, medical devices can be surgically implanted, connected externally to the patient receiving treatment, or used during surgery. Clinicians use medical devices alone or in combination with drug therapies and surgery to treat patient medical conditions. For some medical conditions, medical devices provide the best, and sometimes the only, therapy to treat a medical condition and restore an individual to a more healthful condition and a fuller life. When medical devices are used, attached, implanted or serviced, clinicians often use a fenestrated surgical drape during the procedure.
Fenestrated surgical drapes are used to maintain sterile conditions, maintain patient privacy, absorb fluid, and provide a clear and clean work area for the clinician. A fenestration is an opening in the surgical drape that provides the clinician with access to a desired site on the patient""s body while preserving the function of the surgical drape for other areas of the patient""s body. Surgical drapes are typically used in clinician""s offices and operating rooms where the clinician is engaged in a variety of tasks related to the use of the surgical drape such as monitoring the patient""s condition with instruments, administering therapeutic agents to the patient, and instructing assistants such as nurses to perform a multitude of tasks. Often the surgical drape is used while the patient is conscious when it is particularly important to maintain the confidence and trust of the patient, so the patient cooperates with the procedure to be performed. Mistakes under these conditions can complicate the procedure being performed and can increase the patient""s health risk.
To accomplish their purpose, surgical drapes are often large enough to require folding for storage and handling convenience. Folded surgical drapes can be difficult to place in situ on the desired patient application site because the surgical drape requires preparation before placement. Folded surgical drapes can be difficult to deploy because the surgical drape is not folded in a manner to facilitate unfolding when placed on the desired patient application site. The additional handing of surgical drapes to place the drape over the desired application site and the difficulty in unfolding the drape is inconvenient, time consuming, increases the likelihood for mistakes, and makes maintaining sterile conditions difficult.
A surgical drape having a panel with at least two portions is folded over a fenestration so that the inner surface to be placed on the patient surrounding the fenestration is unobstructed by the portions for ease of locating the fenestration over the application site. In another version of the invention, a deployment tab is located on each of the at least two portion""s distal end and the portions are folded near or on the fenestration so that the deployment tab is accessible and adapted to unfold the portion away from the fenestration.